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Heroes Article

May 21, 2008

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Officer honored for actions during knife attack

By Dennis Sullivan
The Chicago Tribune

JOLIET, Ill. — Richard Trafton won the Joliet Police Department's highest honor Tuesday, but his greatest satisfaction may have come when Jorga Sheridan thanked him for saving her husband from a knife-wielding assailant.

"You touched the lives of his parents, his children, his siblings and me," Sheridan said during the department's annual awards ceremony.

Sheridan's husband, patrol Officer Mike "Coz" Sheridan, was stabbed twice June 14, 2007, before Trafton, also a patrol officer, yanked him away to prevent a third strike. The assailant then tried to stab Trafton, who fatally shot him in self-defense, Deputy Police Chief Pat Kerr said.

Mike Sheridan, hospitalized for his wounds, did not return to active duty for several months. He was awarded the department's Purple Heart on Tuesday.

Lt. Dennis Gordon told the roughly 200 people at the ceremony at Joliet Junior College's Renaissance Center that the incident was "one of the most harrowing in my 29 years here."

Trafton's quick action earned him the prestigious Murrin Medal, as well as Heroism and Lifesaving Awards from the department, and a special award from the Joliet Exchange Club.

The Sheridans presented him with a commemorative coin of St. Michael, "the patron saint of law enforcement," Jorga Sheridan said.

Patrol Officer Brian Nagra also earned the Murrin Medal for preventing an assailant from shooting three women on Oct. 28.

Both incidents were domestic disturbances.

The Murrin Medal, instituted in 1988, honors the memory of Master Patrol Officer Martin S. Murrin, killed in the line of duty in 1984.

Copyright 2008 The Chicago Tribune

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